Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! 
Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to I've been using Garmins collision/warning system on the Bandit for a while now.
Just ignore the buy part and you can see the overview and specs here: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/518151#overview
Its actually designed for bicycles but it works in other applications such as motorcycles. At first you might wonder why a small radar warning system would have any use on a motorcycle, until you try it. I was pretty sceptical too. After using it the first time I think Garmin is onto something.
There are two parts to the system, the radar and the monitor. You can use only the radar but the monitor let's you see what's going on. I'd like to preface all this by clarifying the intent which is to augment and not substitute good riding behavior and common sense. Its just a tool and some people might find it useful, others not so much and still some think the whole idea is worthless, to each their own.
The premise of the system is that smaller profile vehicles like a bicycle are difficult to see and this being hit from behind by cars or trucks has a higher probability than being in larger vehicles. Bicyclists and even motorcyclists getting hit from behind isn't exactly rare. The idea here is to warn the rider of approaching traffic from behind as well as warning the approaching traffic of your presence. If this wasn't a concern then that calls into question all the lights being sold that riders are hanging on the backs of their bikes (both kinds). A light letting others know you are there is one thing, a notification vehicles are approaching from the rear is another and having both could be better yet.
You can do the head check and watch the mirrors but that still leaves the time in between and doesn't alert the approaching traffic. The Garmin system works by telling you the relative position and approaching speed of vehicles behind you (and to the sides of you) as well as signaling them when they come within a certain distance and at a certain rate of closure to your position.
The radar unit is to be mounted on the rear of the bike, I put mine on the rear seat backrest while the monitor should be mounted where you can see it easily. I mounted it on the fairing dash above the instruments on the Bandit.
The proximity warning LEDs on the radar unit are very bright and easily see by traffic coming up behind you. Of course, lights flashing, high visibility helmets and clothing hasn't stopped many a rider from being run over but this might just help out a little.
The two units have internal batteries that you charge via ubiquitous USB chargers and it doesn't take long. I've found over a couple of months that the units can operate for about 4 hours non-stop in high traffic areas. Right now you can't charge while using them, a pretty inconvenient situation.
When you turn the radar and monitor on, they sync via Bluetooth but there is no pairing needed, its automatic. You have a choice as to the always on position LED on the radar until that other drivers will see from behind you, a steady red light or flashing red light. Which you can use depends on the laws where you ride.
In purely passive use the radar tracks up to 8 vehicles on approach if the closure rate is high within a certain distance to you, the radar's LED flash as some rear lights do when applying the brakes. The difference is that the radar flashes the lights without any intervention from you.
Does it work? I found it does. I have a sharp right turn onto my street and the turn is near the end of a blind curve, tailgating is common as you slow down, the turn is a 120 degrees and the road is single lane in each direction. With the Garmin radar unit on, cars would maintain a greater distance than without it. While there is no scientific test, this is what I observed. Since I have the monitor I could tell when the radar was flashing and doing a quick mirror check I could see the flashing led coincided with the car behind me staying back more than was usual. I also noticed this at stop lights, car wouldn't get right up behind but tended to stop farther back. Proof? Not really but just what I experienced.
On the freeway, likewise, cars seems to change lanes to the side farther back than creep close before passing.
Where I found good utility was just riding and when seeing the monitor indicate high rate closure from behind I would do a quick check. While its easy to say just check the mirror more often, that doesn't explain how motorcyclists get hit from the rear, it happens and you can only spend so much time looking in mirrors.
If you live where lane splitting is legal the radar will alert you to anrider coming up behind you faster than you are riding too. While I rarely lane split, it has happened but I do so at a lower speed than some that need to split lanes at some crazy speeds. Regardless, the radar has let me know when that rocket rider was closing fast and I was able to slip into traffic and let them meet destiny.
Another time it works well is checking blind spots. You can head check but you can't ride forward looking backward all the time. The radar seems to have a 180 or close to it coverage. In heavy traffic it will track cars sitting in your blind spot. That doesn't mean you don't need to look, it clues you in that you do need to. Its probably happened to.many of us, you are riding along, no traffic and you just did a mirror and head check. You lane change and some hotshot ramped up onto the road and there they are, right in your blind spot. Since the monitor is up from within your field of view not only does it alert you to their position, it alerts them too.
I found the Garmin radar easy to setup and mount on the Bandit and intuitive to use. The monitor displays the traffic behind you as white LEDs with red, yellow or green led at the top to indicate closure rate along with the position of the white LEDs that stack on the display in order of distance from you.
Supposedly the radar can track out to 150' but I found it went at least that and a bit farther. You have the white LEDs to indicate how many vehicles are behind you and if there are fewer than 8, the positions of the vehicles can move up or down the scale so you know the various approaches. This all happens without distracting you from riding, in seconds from install you just get it and it becomes this extra tool that requires you do nothing to have its advantages.
Mounted in your field of view but not blocking the road view, its just like a tach or speedo, you are aware of the indications but it doesn't draw you to stare at it.
This thing isn't cheap, a few hundred for both radar and monitor. Is it worth it? I have to say no, for the price it should have in use charging and the option to link two radars to one monitor and the monitor could have two tracks so that you could easily discern if a vehicle was directly behind you or a lane over. Since there is no easy way to prove that not getting hit from behind was attributable to having the radar alert, the functionality being worthwhile is subjective. That said, I turn it on any time I ride. When I stop for coffee, I charge it up, its easy to do and out on open roads or where there isnt a lot of traffic, the charge lasts nearly a 10 hour ride long.
The whole system is small, small enough to fit in your pocket and it comes off easily using the QD mounts provided. That reduces the chances someone who wants one simply takes yours.
Both the radar and monitor are weatherproof so it should go through rain without worry.
Like mirrors, helmets, gloves and turn signals, there is always a way around things and they are of questionable value to some but my experience is that the features and functions are well worthwhile even if the price is high.
The Garmin site I linked to has far better pictures and even some video of how the unit operates along with specs. When I called them to ask about in use charging, someone answered the phone promptly and knew enough about the product to give me confidence in their support.
BTW, the radar can integrate with some of their GPS systems to show information on the GPS displays. I don't have any of their GPS systems, preferring to use a larger tablet instead so I can't comment on how that feature works.
Just ignore the buy part and you can see the overview and specs here: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/518151#overview
Its actually designed for bicycles but it works in other applications such as motorcycles. At first you might wonder why a small radar warning system would have any use on a motorcycle, until you try it. I was pretty sceptical too. After using it the first time I think Garmin is onto something.
There are two parts to the system, the radar and the monitor. You can use only the radar but the monitor let's you see what's going on. I'd like to preface all this by clarifying the intent which is to augment and not substitute good riding behavior and common sense. Its just a tool and some people might find it useful, others not so much and still some think the whole idea is worthless, to each their own.
The premise of the system is that smaller profile vehicles like a bicycle are difficult to see and this being hit from behind by cars or trucks has a higher probability than being in larger vehicles. Bicyclists and even motorcyclists getting hit from behind isn't exactly rare. The idea here is to warn the rider of approaching traffic from behind as well as warning the approaching traffic of your presence. If this wasn't a concern then that calls into question all the lights being sold that riders are hanging on the backs of their bikes (both kinds). A light letting others know you are there is one thing, a notification vehicles are approaching from the rear is another and having both could be better yet.
You can do the head check and watch the mirrors but that still leaves the time in between and doesn't alert the approaching traffic. The Garmin system works by telling you the relative position and approaching speed of vehicles behind you (and to the sides of you) as well as signaling them when they come within a certain distance and at a certain rate of closure to your position.
The radar unit is to be mounted on the rear of the bike, I put mine on the rear seat backrest while the monitor should be mounted where you can see it easily. I mounted it on the fairing dash above the instruments on the Bandit.
The proximity warning LEDs on the radar unit are very bright and easily see by traffic coming up behind you. Of course, lights flashing, high visibility helmets and clothing hasn't stopped many a rider from being run over but this might just help out a little.
The two units have internal batteries that you charge via ubiquitous USB chargers and it doesn't take long. I've found over a couple of months that the units can operate for about 4 hours non-stop in high traffic areas. Right now you can't charge while using them, a pretty inconvenient situation.
When you turn the radar and monitor on, they sync via Bluetooth but there is no pairing needed, its automatic. You have a choice as to the always on position LED on the radar until that other drivers will see from behind you, a steady red light or flashing red light. Which you can use depends on the laws where you ride.
In purely passive use the radar tracks up to 8 vehicles on approach if the closure rate is high within a certain distance to you, the radar's LED flash as some rear lights do when applying the brakes. The difference is that the radar flashes the lights without any intervention from you.
Does it work? I found it does. I have a sharp right turn onto my street and the turn is near the end of a blind curve, tailgating is common as you slow down, the turn is a 120 degrees and the road is single lane in each direction. With the Garmin radar unit on, cars would maintain a greater distance than without it. While there is no scientific test, this is what I observed. Since I have the monitor I could tell when the radar was flashing and doing a quick mirror check I could see the flashing led coincided with the car behind me staying back more than was usual. I also noticed this at stop lights, car wouldn't get right up behind but tended to stop farther back. Proof? Not really but just what I experienced.
On the freeway, likewise, cars seems to change lanes to the side farther back than creep close before passing.
Where I found good utility was just riding and when seeing the monitor indicate high rate closure from behind I would do a quick check. While its easy to say just check the mirror more often, that doesn't explain how motorcyclists get hit from the rear, it happens and you can only spend so much time looking in mirrors.
If you live where lane splitting is legal the radar will alert you to anrider coming up behind you faster than you are riding too. While I rarely lane split, it has happened but I do so at a lower speed than some that need to split lanes at some crazy speeds. Regardless, the radar has let me know when that rocket rider was closing fast and I was able to slip into traffic and let them meet destiny.
Another time it works well is checking blind spots. You can head check but you can't ride forward looking backward all the time. The radar seems to have a 180 or close to it coverage. In heavy traffic it will track cars sitting in your blind spot. That doesn't mean you don't need to look, it clues you in that you do need to. Its probably happened to.many of us, you are riding along, no traffic and you just did a mirror and head check. You lane change and some hotshot ramped up onto the road and there they are, right in your blind spot. Since the monitor is up from within your field of view not only does it alert you to their position, it alerts them too.
I found the Garmin radar easy to setup and mount on the Bandit and intuitive to use. The monitor displays the traffic behind you as white LEDs with red, yellow or green led at the top to indicate closure rate along with the position of the white LEDs that stack on the display in order of distance from you.
Supposedly the radar can track out to 150' but I found it went at least that and a bit farther. You have the white LEDs to indicate how many vehicles are behind you and if there are fewer than 8, the positions of the vehicles can move up or down the scale so you know the various approaches. This all happens without distracting you from riding, in seconds from install you just get it and it becomes this extra tool that requires you do nothing to have its advantages.
Mounted in your field of view but not blocking the road view, its just like a tach or speedo, you are aware of the indications but it doesn't draw you to stare at it.
This thing isn't cheap, a few hundred for both radar and monitor. Is it worth it? I have to say no, for the price it should have in use charging and the option to link two radars to one monitor and the monitor could have two tracks so that you could easily discern if a vehicle was directly behind you or a lane over. Since there is no easy way to prove that not getting hit from behind was attributable to having the radar alert, the functionality being worthwhile is subjective. That said, I turn it on any time I ride. When I stop for coffee, I charge it up, its easy to do and out on open roads or where there isnt a lot of traffic, the charge lasts nearly a 10 hour ride long.
The whole system is small, small enough to fit in your pocket and it comes off easily using the QD mounts provided. That reduces the chances someone who wants one simply takes yours.
Both the radar and monitor are weatherproof so it should go through rain without worry.
Like mirrors, helmets, gloves and turn signals, there is always a way around things and they are of questionable value to some but my experience is that the features and functions are well worthwhile even if the price is high.
The Garmin site I linked to has far better pictures and even some video of how the unit operates along with specs. When I called them to ask about in use charging, someone answered the phone promptly and knew enough about the product to give me confidence in their support.
BTW, the radar can integrate with some of their GPS systems to show information on the GPS displays. I don't have any of their GPS systems, preferring to use a larger tablet instead so I can't comment on how that feature works.
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